إِذهَب نَجَوتَ مِنَ الهِجاءِ وَلَذعِهِ

وَأَما وَلَثغَةِ رَحمَةَ اِبنِ نَجاحِ

When you escaped from satire and its sting

Begone, for you are safe from satire and its sting,

As for the slip of the tongue of the son of success

Saved by the very lisp of Rahma ibn Najah!

لَولا فُتورٌ في كَلامِكَ يُشتَهى

وَتَرَفُّقي بِكَ بَعدُ وَاِستِملاحي

If not for the lassitude in your speech that is desirable

Were it not for a languor in your speech that stirs desire,

And my gentleness with you afterwards and my flirtation

And my gentleness with you, finding you sweet to behold,

وَتَكَسُّرٌ في مُقلَتَيكَ هُوَ الَّذي

عَطَفَ الفُؤادَ عَلَيكَ بَعدَ جِماحِ

And the coquetry in your eyelashes which

And a languid shatter in your eyes—the very charm

Inclined my heart toward you after aloofness

That bent my heart back to you after its retreat,

لَعَلِمتَ أَنَّكَ لا تُمازِحُ شاعِراً

في ساعَةٍ لَيسَت بِحينِ مُزاحِ

You would have known that you don’t jest with a poet

You would have surely known never to banter with a poet

In a time that is not the time for jesting

In an hour that is not ordained for jesting.